Imp In A Jar
by skydog91
Summary: Darkness unfolded into a jar. A trapped imp inside a jar. The world falling into belligerence, hell. Rick and Carl are all that's left, they think. (Will become very gory in later chapters... read with caution)
1. Chapter 1

_ We all appear like miniature soldiers marching into unknown boundaries_

_ of icy pavement and bizarre camp sights._

_ Perambulating through a vortex of journey and confusion, in the world of the living dead. _

_ Such calamity we shall witness, in a world of violence._

The world was peaceful at one point. Parks were full of innocent children swinging on swing-sets, parents were watching in admiration, and grandparents enjoyed their last few years left on planet Earth. It all seemed like a precious moment of time, darkness only existed in the media's lies and corporate greed.

When the dead first arose in a small town twenty miles from Atlanta, no one really knew what was going on. _Was it some sort of infectious flu? Was it sexually transmitted? _People boarded their homes and many whom never got to start families stopped trying. Many people would stop buying lesser needed necessities. The internet went dark and cell phones became useless, as radio was only left to transmit. _End transmission._

His hands, the dripping blood of such savagery. _Quit touching me. Stop. STOP!_

His hands groped my manhood, what was he trying to do. _This is so not me, STOP!_

He's stroking it. _Oh my... it actually feels nice. Pleasurable. _

Rick's eyes opened with a slight feeling of discomfort. _Where was the man? Was I trapped in a homosexual reverie? Weird. _

The discomfort condensed as Rick rose from laying down. It was just a dream.

He was surrounded by four walls of a mobile home, his son Carl was curled up next to a framed photo of his mother. Cockroaches feasted on rotten cereal left spilled from weeks past, as Rick got up to wake his son. The past few rainy days brought water inside the mobile home and many insects. This was just a temporary living spot to keep themselves from the other dangers outside.

Which each day passing by, and the disintegration of the mobile home becoming clear they knew they'd have to begin adventuring to somewhere safer. Through many obfuscating labyrinths that entered and exited with an endless spiral, they ended up in Alpharetta, GA. The stench of the dead lingered from all directions.

The town had many buildings which had their products confiscated by other survivors or townspeople. A chiseling thought embedded itself into Rick's mind that there could possibly be a few survivors still hanging around town, but there was really no possible way he thought. Shards of glass was all that was left, the town became a center of futility. Rick's sapphire eyes glistened under the sun as it began it's descend over the horizon. They knew their investigation of such a desolate location needed to be hurried along.

Building after building showed nothing but emptiness, until they reached a point of giving up when they witnessed a small hut. The hut was only lit but torches that hung from its exterior. Like a lost torch song, the hut appeared like a bitter melancholy. Text was scripted into a sign near the entrance that read "_The dead has arose to tear me apart, but my ancient rituals shall be imbrued with the blood that seeps from their eyes."_

_Was this hut ran by some sort of witch? Witchcraft? _Rick glanced over to his son who seemed lost in thought.

"Carl, I think it's some sort of ritual hut. Who knows if this place is still really up and running.. we've gotta check it out. Hey you might like some of the stuff inside!" Rick said trying to appease the awkward find. Rick went inside as his son, still speechless, followed closely behind.

The hut was the opposite of Rick's assumption, it was actually a treasure room full of medallions and other artifacts from historic discoveries. It had a small bookcase full of old books from the 18th century up until the 19th century, but the medallions dated back close to the end of the 16th century. The hut didn't provide much to them, but seemed like a unique spot so they rested on the an abandoned sixties flower sofa to pass some time as the growls of walkers was heard in the distance.

As night hit its point of death, a sound of an elderly woman echoed from behind the bookcase. An illuminating shriek escaped her as she said the following, charming

"_For death is an overused word in this newly ransacked world. I want to bring happiness to you and your child. Your child looks like my son. He was only twelve when he was mistaken for a witch and hung above a boiling pot to be feasted to our old wanderers. Oh how I miss him. My son's ethereal ghost still haunts me, knowing it's just a hallucination I weep. Those long cold nights by the campfire singing his favorite lullabies as the moon pierced its energy through my soul. His ghost ascending to comfort me, but escaping as the wolves came near. I don't ever expect empathy for myself, I'm much too strong for such sympathy. _

_ But than my weakness always comes back to shine on me..._

_ Those many nights of famine, such calamity would strike. Those nights I would stare into the lake and see the reapers giggling as they stirred my hopeless son. His screams... HIS SCREAMS._

_ I'm sorry Rick for dragging you on this. Oh your shocked I know your name? Well I am a certified clairvoyant, I know you very well. You have a very dark future ahead of you. Your son will have to be without you, as your death is very near.. dear."_

The elderly lady paused as Rick gazed into her eyes trying to understand this bizarre lady. Rick tapped Carl's shoulder as a sign that they should probably go. As they left the hut the last few lines would stay with Rick forever...

"_Rick darling, really must you leave me? I'm hungry. I'm not as strong as I mentioned before. I haven't ate in weeks. Oh really shouldn't admit that, okay to be truthful... I'm dead. I'm here to warn you. Like your elevating envelope of light, your omen. Oracle. Your prodigy is malicious. Your heart is warm, but your soul grows colder. YOUR SOUL GROWS COLDER! RICK! BELIVE IN YOURSELF! CARL NEEDS YOU! BELIEVE! BELIEVE! BELIEVE..."_ as her voice echoed the town square Rick embraced Carl taking some of the soothsayer's nonsense into account.


	2. Chapter 2

_A meek child stares at the path ahead of him that holds nothing but the local gas station ran by a failing corporation. Entering the front door entrance to the station making a quick left towards the ATM, the child prepared to withdraw money for his mother who needed two twenties for birthday cards. A tall man wearing a pork pie hat, chewing on thin straw stood over the child attempting to work the machine. Chew. Chew._

_The man finally asked the child if he would like help operating the machine, but the child was taught to ignore strangers when his parents were not around. The man placed his hands on the child's shoulder and then forced his way to operation of the machine. The child glanced out the window and seen his mother's car pull into the station._

_The man asked the child how much, handed the child the twenties, and watched the child run to his mother's vehicle. The child's mother asked the child who the strange man was. The child explained the situation to his mother as the view in her rearview mirror was that of the stranger's car following closely behind. _

_The mother knew her husband would have to become involved, it helped he was a cop after all. She dialed her husband's phone number into her cell phone and explained the situation and told him to meet her at Delight Park, about ten miles from her current position. _

_Pulling into Delight Park as the stranger's car pulled up closely behind. Like a hopeless masochist, he quickly walked to her car and forced the child into his as he began to undress the child's mother without closely examining the environment around him. Her husband was in his police vehicle behind a shrub and could see everything going on. He quickly took action as he ran towards the car with his magnum. _

_The moans of his wife echoed in his ears as the stranger was forcing her to give him OJ. He walked up to the tinted windows of the passenger side aiming the gun at the stranger who now attempted to escape. As the stranger made a roll out of the driver's side the police officer raised his gun and fired. A bullet entered the man's spine. The police officer stood over the now paralyzed man and placed the gun to his temple as a bullet flew through his brain. Blood spilled like wine, wine spilled…_

Rick's wine glass tipped over as reflections of the ambitious skittered through the shadows. The shadows portrayed a Shakespearian play through the embers of a campfire. The tragedy of star-crossed lovers twinkled under thousands of midnight stars, remembering his wife who was now deceased from the outbreak. The screams that escaped the flames, the very few which still walked as victims of hell's command, would soon be tearing each other apart. Rick wasn't prepared for such acts, but he knew they'd eventually occur. Nothing could rapture the thoughts punishing him.

Rick examined the area for any dangers that were close. Lowering his eyes as the world around him burned in nightmares.

The next few days became resupply missions as they gathered many cans of food left behind by the unlucky. The stillness of death always encircled them. The life they once knew no longer could exist, they had accepted it.

_I drug his corpse for miles to the lakeside home of a millionaire who screwed the police force over with his many prank calls. He was a dickhead after all. His ostentatious landscaping made me want to vomit, his gardening sculptures of his whores. He sits in his steel cage eating his rotten apple swallowing maggots that had nested inside. They eat away as his internal organs reproducing by the thousands. He appear bludgeoned when they find him, but the maggots did their job. His painful death was the result of his own ignorance. Suicide perhaps? We'll mark that._

Rick can still hear the cries of the dead fortune teller in his head, maybe she was right. Rick shrugged off the thought as he grabbed his son's hand and they followed a dirt path towards their next stop, Woodstock, GA.


	3. Chapter 3

Woodstock was a town of around twenty thousand people before the outbreak, now it was void of any life. The businesses had been looted of all valuables and nothing remained but the bloodstains of the victims who never made it out. Cobwebs covered the ceilings of the abandoned buildings as poisonous breeds spun what appeared like defensive walls from their webs. The town was nothing more than an abandoned battlefield.

The road leading out of the town had a sign that said "Visitors please take the next left for Lockett's Manor". Rick glanced back at Carl who just nodded in approval. As they followed the path the lucid view of the manor began to appear. It stood like a majestic castle of the heavens, with hundreds of rooms waiting to be explored. The iron gate that blocked the entrance was inoperative, slightly bent to allow a tight entrance. They crawled through the tight space as they walked towards the front door admiring the landscaping that seemed untouched from the outside world.

Rick gripped the cast iron handle and banged the door. _Nothing. _ Rick continued to bang the door until finally the door swung open. A large man with a monocle answered the door and quickly said

"I'm sorry I can't help you folks. Oh you poor city folks being swallowed to the horrors. Oh well, just take the path back to the city and be feasted upon." he let out a slight chuckle and continued, "Oh you have a child, hmm that's rather intriguing. Those things usually have the best livers."

Rick glanced back at Carl and spoke,

"Listen here buddy, we aren't here as thieves or victims of the outside world. We are here out of courage, bravery. We came here to get some answers and I figured you had to have some knowledge of what exactly is happen..."

The man interrupted Rick with a rather eerie tone,

"Gentle kind sir, there's nothing you can do to stop this. Here come in and I'll explain in my den."

Walking through the front door of the manor was like walking into a candy shop. The floors were made of diamonds embedded in ceramic tile. A mounted bear head hung from the corridor that led towards the den. The den housed a large mahogany bookcase that curved itself around the walls. The bookcases held books on psychology, alchemy, medieval history, politics, arithmetic guides, lobotomy, and many other bizarre subjects. A large marble fireplace burned oak logs as the man began to speak.

"The name is Dr. Joseph Lockett. I once had a family like yours but I fed them to the dead for my own sake. Many people in town despised me because of religious and political outlooks of life. Okay okay.. I'll get to the important stuff. Damn Caroline always telling me to hurry along with my stories to adventurers."

Rick glanced at the man in confusion and questioned him,

"Whose Caroline?"

"Oh Caroline. She was my wife. She's actually a demon but she warns me of evil that will come. She was much older than me when we got together, but I knew the older the better. She left me this house and I never let her family see any of her belongings again. Okay how about you folks, where are you from?"

The images of the old fortune teller rang in Rick's head, he never learned her name. Rick decided to ask the doctor.

"We ran into a old fortune teller along the way here that proclaimed she was dead, does this have any connection to this whatsoever? I mean I might sound crazy but I was an investigation cop after all before the world went to shit." Rick chuckled but stopped when the doctor appeared distraught.

"That's my sweet Caroline. She warned you guys? Wow! I never knew would visit other people. I told her too though. I told her to warn as many people as she could to seek shelter. _Yes Caroline I know you don't like me talking about you so much! _ Sorry about that. But the outside world won't improve, they are Lucifer's mobilized army, they can't be stopped. _Caroline I know I'm not supposed to speak of your master! Let me help these city folks! _You guys need to leave. You guys need to get as far as you can from this evil."

_Evil...Evil..Evil._

The word rang in Rick's ears like the final words of the hopeless clairvoyant. _Boom!_

A large crash came from the front door as the growls of the living dead came echoing through the passageway.

"Oh dear." the doctor said. He remained still willing to accept death.

"Doctor Lockett we need to get moving, do you have any secret rooms located within this manor?"

_"Caroline I am not helping these people, you sent your armies to slaughter us. Yes you did! BABY STOP! STOP!"_

Rick grabbed his son's shoulder leaving the doctor behind in his own demise. The hallway was filled with the living dead, but the other end was clear. Running towards the other end as the walkers followed close behind they came to the secondary exit of the manor. Outside they could hear the screams of the doctor exiting the home.

A dead tree with a large plank nailed to it rested in front of them. The plank had writing on it.

"_ For those nights I can't sleep thinking of you, buried beneath this wretched soil. _

_ And for those who will leave me as I fall in a never-ending sleep._

_ Remember me, Remember knowledge._

_ Remember that you are our only hope, our angels of light in this world of darkness._

_ Remember Caroline, remember me._

_Doctor Joseph Lockett, Born Jan 6 1971, Died..."_

Rick realized that the death stone could now be forged but refused to fill it in as they escaped the horrors of the manor with a little bit more knowledge of what they had encountered.


End file.
